Slut Walk: A Walk to End Slut-Shaming and Gender Violence

After the event’s cancellation in 2014, Lehigh will host its first-ever Slut walk at Lamberton Hall on Oct. 19.

The Slut Walk, hosted annually by celebrity Amber Rose in Los Angeles in the beginning of October, is a march to raise awareness about slut shaming, victim blaming and rape culture – three things that are prevalent on college campuses and often lead to incidents of gender violence.

Lehigh will hold its own version of the event in an effort to raise awareness and work to eliminate the presence of these three issues.

The walk was originally supposed to begin at Lehigh last year with the help of the Lehigh University Feminist Alliance, but it was canceled due to the controversy surrounding its name and concerns about exclusivity.

The walk was canceled last year because many faculty members were concerned that Lehigh was not ready to address the issues that Slut Walk presented. As a result, it was replaced by the March of Voices, which focused on ending all types of discrimination on campus, instead of specifically targeting the gender violence-related issues that Slut Walk addresses.

Asa Packer sports a ‘I am no longer silent’ shirt to raise awareness about slut shaming, victim blaming, and rape culture. (Andrew Law / B&W Staff)

Participants of this year’s Slut walk will meet in Lamberton Hall at 4 p.m. and watch a video about the organizers of the original Slut Walk. Then, they will make posters that express why they are participating in the march. As they walk around campus, students will hold up their signs to show support for victims and call for an end to rape culture. The walk will stop at the University Center front lawn, where participants can speak out and share their own experiences of victim blaming and slut shaming.

This year, the walk is made possible with the funding and support from the Office of Gender Violence Education and Support. Brooke DeSipio, the director of the office, hopes that this event will raise awareness about gender violence survivors who are victim-blamed and slut-shamed for their sexual assaults.

In September, the office invited Emily Lindin, the founder of the Unslut Project, to Lehigh. In her presentation, Lindin discussed ending sexual bullying and slut shaming in not only schools but also communities, media and culture. The Slut Walk follows up on the issues Lindin discussed, and makes them closer and more personal to Lehigh.

DeSipio said she hopes the Slut Walk will help create a space where victims of such assaults are comfortable sharing their experiences.

“Slut Walk is just one awareness event that is part of a larger conversation about gender violence on college campuses,” DeSipio said in an email. “It is a part of Gender Violence Education and Support’s ongoing conversation of these issues. We will continue to work on this until all survivors at Lehigh feel believed and supported, and are no longer blamed for their assaults.”

However, controversy over the use of the word “slut” in the event’s name still exists. Rita Jones, the director of the Women’s Center, said the purpose of the controversial name is to redefine the term.

“The use of the word ‘slut’ has a long history, but I think Slut Walk is trying to reclaim ownership of the word so that it cannot be used negatively,” Jones said.

Despite the continued debate over its name, Slut Walk has received the support of Jones and student members of the Women’s Center. Jones said she thinks the walk will open opportunities for the community to have conversations about issues that several women face, such as the policing of sexual desire and horizontal hostility.

Ingrid Morales-Ramirez, ’18, a student involved with the Women’s Center, is a proponent of women’s rights and gender equality. Morales-Ramirez said that while the walk is a step in the right direction, it is unlikely to solve the issue of slut-shaming entirely.

“I think it (the walk) will be helpful in the sense that it will raise awareness of the issue on our campus, but I don’t think it will eliminate the issue,” Morales-Ramirez said. “It is such a big issue with a well-known reputation to continue the slut shaming and rape culture that it has become a part of our society now. I think it takes time for change, but this event is a great step towards that.”